Wapping’s Wanders - Trip to France - Friday 24 May to Monday 27 May 2024

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This replaces the ‘Beginners’ trip I proposed, not because I didn’t want to take beginners but there was apparently not so much interest in it this time around. I can run a beginners trip later in the year if people would like me to. Just drop me a PM and I’ll take it from there.

How many spaces: Four, two of which are already gone, one to me and one to BikerMan. That leaves two.

Dates: Friday 24 May to Monday 27 May

Outward / return via the Chunnel, book your own tickets, please:

IMG_5330.jpeg

Suitable for: Anyone who has passed their motorcycle test.

Distances:

Calais to first hotel: 15 miles

First hotel to second hotel: 168 miles

Second hotel to third hotel: 159 miles

Third hotel back to Calais: 15 miles

What sort of roads: Mostly French D roads. Very little mototorway. Some N roads. Some of the roads might be narrow but (hopefully) no goat tracks.

Hotels: I will have to re-jig as I have changed / lengthened the route. Details to follow ASAP. They will not be F1 nor will they be the George Cinque.

Will it be a race / hoon, mate? I will be on a Royal Enfield 411 Himalayan, as opposed to my 1600. I’ll supply GPX versions of the routes. Anyone and everyone is free to do their own thing all day.

Anything to bring:

Valid passport
V5
Driving licence
Insurance certificate
Travel indurance
Breakdown insurance
Credit card

Nice to have:

Phone, enabled for overseas roaming
Charger for phone (people forget these)
French to UK mains plug adaptor (people forget these)
Charging brick thing
A bit of cash
Map of Pas de Calais region
Favourite teddy bear
Anything else you think essential
Sense of humour

Richard

PS I have ridden it before but will be going over before just for fun….. ie. To miss the bloody Marathon, keeping me locked in Wapping all day.
 
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@Wapping Richard, I saw this the other day and meant to send to you...

White cliffs to wetlands; discovering France’s Pas-de-Calais​


White cliffs to wetlands; discovering France’s Pas-de-Calais | France holidays | The Guardian

Too many of us bypass the closest part of France to the UK – those who linger enjoy soaring chalk cliffs, vast beaches, superb seafood and verdant marshes ideal for exploring by boat
amp.theguardian.com amp.theguardian.com

I'm only too sorry that I can't take up your final spot...
 
That’s a nice article, thank you.

I have been out in the reclaimed land between Calais and St Omer. Some of the paths across the fields (I am not convinced it was legal to ride down them all) were only just wide enough for my 1600 with a drop into a very green looking drainage canal on either side. Sometimes the paths were banked up, I guess above some sort of inundation problem? Some had some very dubious looking simple wooden planking bridges, too. Happy days.
 
Update.

Hotels all booked (in my name) - four single rooms.

As it’s the Friday of the UK bank holiday weekend, a lot of places in the Calais region were fully booked. I therefore did some more jiggling about with the route for day one, which now works fine…. And we get somewhere to sleep, which is a start at least.

ONE PLACE STILL SPARE.
 
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Just watched these on my little iPhone, calmly enjoying.
Do you have the free version Richard or the paid for?
 
Hopefully, this little jaunt will show that, within just a small area (never more than three hours on D roads from Calais or 80 miles as the crow flies) that there is a good mixture of roads (without touching a motorway) and, most of all, that all the roads are not crap.

IMG_5420.jpeg
 
And with that route, you get to swim from Cayeux-sur-mer back to Blighty!
You might even get picked up by our Royal Navy and get free tea and biscuits!
What's not to like? ;)
Bonne Route!
 
I am sitting in Escalles, just down the road from Calais and tomorrow’s Chunnel train. I have ridden both days’ routes (not for the first time) and made some tweaks, which I just need to fine tune a bit more.

Fingers crossed it will be a touch warmer than Saturday’s seven degrees and raining. It wasn’t until mid-afternoon on Sunday, that ‘They’ (who control the weather) twiddled the dial vaguely in the right direction.
 
Wapping said:
I am sitting in Escalles, just down the road from Calais and tomorrow’s Chunnel train. I have ridden both days’ routes (not for the first time) and made some tweaks, which I just need to fine tune a bit more.

Fingers crossed it will be a touch warmer than Saturday’s seven degrees and raining. It wasn’t until mid-afternoon on Sunday, that ‘They’ (who control the weather) twiddled the dial vaguely in the right direction.
Click to expand...

Thanks Richard, looking forward to it very much (y) :)
 
I have scrapped the Sunday night hotel at Escalles. There is nothing wrong with the place at all but I am not sure that it justifies the price. What I have done instead, is taken us back to St Omer for the last night. The price saving will more than pay for a meal out on the Sunday evening. On the Monday morning, it’s then a simple 35 minute run from St Omer to the Chunnel, using the motorway. It is tolled for a stretch but it’ll only be a few euro.

If you have a payage tag, bring it, please. If you don’t, I’d suggest that you get one, as they are really useful. I have an Emovis tag (it was all thst was available when I first got it) but there are now several choices, including some which double up for Spain and Italy.

www.emovis-tag.co.uk

Emovis Tag UK

Travel without stopping on European Motorways. Emovis Tag UK can provide UK customers with a tag for automatic payment of motorway tolls in France, Spain & Portugal.
www.emovis-tag.co.uk www.emovis-tag.co.uk

All I now need to do now is tidy up the routes in the GPX files.
 
Due to unforeseen circumstances, we have ONE vacancy on this jaunt.

If anyone is able to join us, please let me know. All the hotels are booked, all I have to do is change a name.

Thank you.

Richard
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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